LAHORE: Born on September 28, 1958 in
Lahore, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal is the current Education Minister of Pakistan, with
additional portfolio for Minorities. He is also the information secretary of the
PML-N. He was elected as an MNA from his constituency NA-117 (Narowal-III) in
the February 2008 elections. He is serving as a minister in the PPP led
coalition government after 2008 elections.

Mr. Ahsan was schooled in PAF Public
School, Sargodha, GC College, Lahore, and UET Lahore, before moving to Wharton
School of Business at University of Pennsylvania for postgraduate studies. He
also took part in the Oxford University Program at the prestigious University of
Oxford.

Ahsan Iqbal's political career started
in 1980 when he joined the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, the student wing of
Jamaat-e-Islami, at UET Lahore. It was in 1988 when he joined PML-N and steadily
rose be its information secretary during the regime of General Pervez Musharraf.
He was elected for the first time as an MNA from his constituency NA-90 (Narowal)
in the General Elections of 1993, and later from the same constituency in
February 1997. He won his seat again in 2008, after losing in 2002, from his
native district of Narowal.

In an interview, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal said
the draft of national education policy would be reviewed to make it more
receptive to contemporary and future trends for achieving national prosperity.
The draft of national education policy would be studied, again, in consultation
with heads of all the political parties and provinces to ensure that it is
immune to frequent and un-necessary changes, he added.

He said though the government did not
intend to undo all the initiatives taken by the previous government for the
uplift of the education sector, but these would be studied to ensure that they
were compatible with the present day's challenges.

He said education sector,
unfortunately, in the country could not receive due attention in terms of
sufficient budgetary allocation for it thus, he added, he would make efforts to
work on this front.

About the role of Deeni Madaris, Ahsan
said, mostly they were contributing invaluable services for the healthy
development of the society however, he added, there was always room for
improvement.

He underlined the need for making
concerted efforts to end class based education system in the country and make
quality education accessible to every citizen of the country irrespective of sex
and social status. He said that elimination of class based education and
promotion of quality education at every level would be his top priority.

He said that the government was
committed to equipping teachers with modern teaching skills in order to fully
capitalize on the newly-revised curriculum. He said that government would take
all possible measures to resolve teachers' problems and restore their status as
an important entity of society.

During the next two years every
institution would be provided with computer lab and a science teacher to promote
research based knowledge for achieving national prosperity. Similarly, network
of educational institutions would be expanded to every nook and corner of the
country and it would be ensured that there was institution for male and girls at
each union council, he added.